The Devil Returns.

She approached the unfamiliar door and nervously took the key from her pocket. She took a deep breath, unlocked the door, paused, then opened it.

To her horror, she was looking in disbelief at the one face she thought she would never see again. He was sitting in an armchair, with a mocking smile on his face as he fixed his cold almost black eyes on her.

Her face blanched. With wide, terrified eyes she timidly stepped towards him. She could feel her heart racing, and her mouth was parched.

“Well, here I am, back from the darkness. You never expected to see me again did you? I suppose you thought I would die and that you would be free to carry on as if I never existed!”

She could not find any words as she listened to him. Her mind began to spin and she started to feel dizzy and nauseous. She grabbed the side of a chair to support her legs as they threatened to give way under her.

“I can’t believe this is happening”, she thought as he rose from his chair posing a threatening figure. She immediately realized that she had been foolish to presume the flowers were from Luc, a man she had met recently but only briefly. How could she have known that it was her husband who had sent them as a ploy to entice her to the apartment. She was not aware that he had recovered. He had succeeded in finding her and had obviously been following her.

Her mind was flicking through images from her life with him like a slide show, remembering all the terrible times she had suffered when she was his wife. He dominated her life totally. The first six months were magical and then gradually he began to subtly control her under the guise of love and caring about her. He eventually destroyed her personality, her self-esteem and her friendships.

He bought a beautiful house but it stood alone on a cliff near the ocean, many miles from the township where she had no outside contact. She was a prisoner in a gilded cage.

For two years she suffered, totally isolated from her friends and family. Gradually he began to play on her fears. He would take her out in his boat at night, taking great pleasure in seeing her fear of the deep, dark water. He would force her to stand right on the edge of the cliff edge, ignoring the fact that there were signs warning people to keep back from the edge. The only people she saw were his friends and his sister. He was like a chameleon, turning on his charm and fooling everyone into thinking that they had a perfect marriage and a perfect life. She was threatened by him that if she did not play the part that she would suffer the consequences. Therefore, she played the perfect hostess. He even made sure she had new modern outfits for her to wear when visitors came, instead of the dowdy ones that he made her wear the rest of the time. There was no one that she could confide in, without risking his wrath if he found out.

One evening returning from their weekend house in the woods, he was trying to terrify her by driving at high speed down the mountainside. This time the terror that he was inflicting on her, turned the tables on him. The road was winding with extremely sharp bends and they had to descend thousands of feet to the main highway that would take them home. He was taking the corners at a dangerous speed. She was tense with fear as she could see the steep drop on her side. She pressed her feet hard onto the floor of the car every time they rounded a corner and was holding on so tightly that her knuckles were white. She asked him to slow down but he just laughed in a manic way, continuing to drive at high speed. The car weaved around the corners and she closed her eyes to avoid seeing the void far below that they could plunge into at any moment.

As they got closer to the bottom of the mountain she began to breathe again, relaxing her feet and hands. Her mouth was parched and she could still feel her heart thumping wildly in her chest. Just as she began to relax, they came to one of the last corners and he was moving to the wrong side of the white line when a car came toward them. It braked and swerved and her husband wrenched the steering wheel violently, trying to avoid a collision and as he managed to manoeuver the car back across the white line, he misjudged and the car left the road and plunged downwards into the trees and bushes tumbling onto its side and rolling over and over as it crashed through the trees and vegetation. They were strapped in with seat belts but she was aware of the car bouncing and crashing through bushes and colliding with trees. She felt like it was happening in slow motion but she could feel the violent tumbling motion of the car as it plunged into the void below. She prayed that it would stop and that they would be safe and suddenly there was a violent collision with a giant tree, interrupting the descent of the car. She was disorientated and gradually she realized that the car was resting on its roof. She was alive and she could move, so she pushed something thinking it was the door. She climbed out and after crawling a short distance away from the car she realized that she had escaped through the windscreen which had dislodged during the crash. She staggered around to the driver’s side and she was aware that her head was bleeding. She looked in through the window and she could see her husband motionless and bleeding. The people from the other car that they had swerved to avoid, had stopped and seen the car plunging over the edge of the road. They called emergency services and after thirty minutes the ambulance and police arrived. She slumped onto the ground and leaned back against the wrecked car. She started to sob and her body shook violently. It was part shock and part relief that she had survived. She did not know if her husband had survived.

The rescue mission was lengthy and after she was hauled to the top on a stretcher she was taken in an ambulance to the nearest hospital. She slept deeply that night after being sedated and having stitches in her forehead and head. Her body was black and blue with bruising.

The next morning the police arrived and she was interviewed about the accident. She was told that her husband had survived but had serious injuries. She explained that he was driving recklessly and it was entirely his fault and the people in the other car were blameless.

After her discharge, she visited her husband every day and was kept informed about his condition. He was in a coma. The hospital staff were very caring and tried to be positive and told her that they could not know if he would ever recover from the coma. Little did they know about the nightmare that was her life with this man. The man she had loved passionately when they were first married had ruined her life and all she could feel was emptiness. She did not care about him.

After months of visiting him, he was transferred to a special hospital where he would stay until he either recovered or eventually died.

She decided that she would not visit him anymore and would try to put the pieces of her life back together. She had forgotten how to be herself anymore. Some part of her spirit had deserted her and she was a shell of the woman that she had been before their marriage.

Over time, she took tiny footsteps to resurrect the person she had been.

After finding employment, contacting some of her old friends who told her that they drifted away because she never accepted invitations and they never received requests to call on her. They realized that there was something very wrong with her marriage but did not interfere for fear of making things worse for her. She revamped her wardrobe which was full of the unflattering clothes that her husband had chosen for her. She found a new home, in the township, surrounded by other houses. She began to feel more secure In her newfound freedom. She did not return to the house that she had shared with her husband. She went there just long enough to take all her belongings. She only took what she had before their marriage. She left everything else as all these items brought back unhappy memories.

She did not give the hospital any address as she never wanted to see her husband again and it was very unlikely that he would ever recover. They had his sister’s contact and she told her that she did not want to be contacted by the hospital or by anyone regarding her husband.

She avoided any relationships with men by keeping them at arm’s length. She knew that there were a few men who found her attractive and she had an air of mystery that seemed to fascinate them. Her life was far from being an open book. She found it hard to trust anyone, especially men.

Then along came Luc. Their meeting happened one day a few weeks previously when she had gone for a walk in a local park. It was a perfect Spring day and the sun warmed her hair as she strolled along the pathway. The trees were lush with foliage and the flower beds were a mass of brilliant colours like an artist’s pallet. The sun seemed to set the colours on fire. She decided to lie on the soft, green grass instead of sitting on a park bench. She spread herself out and the gentle sun caressed her face as she lay there feeling completely content, something she had not experienced for a long time. She lay there thinking about her life when she was married and how she felt like a little bird released from its cage. It had been more than two years since her husband went into a coma, but every day was a gift. A gift of freedom.

She had been lying there for about half an hour when suddenly she sensed a presence and looking up she saw a man sitting on the grass nearby. She got a start and began to sit up but he spoke and commented that it was such a glorious day that he thought he would follow her example and sit for a little while and let the sun warm his back. When her eyes were able to focus properly, she saw an attractive, open face smiling at her. “I was walking past and saw you lying on the grass and I was intrigued at how you looked so incredibly relaxed”, he said. I hope I haven’t disturbed you”. She was a little annoyed at first that he had intruded into her wonderful, quiet reverie. They made some small talk but eventually, the conversation progressed and they enjoyed at least half an hour of enjoyable chatting. The conversation was easy between them, although they only spoke about general topics, not disclosing anything of their personal lives. He told her his name was Luc and she introduced herself. She found it very enjoyable and a rare treat to be able to talk to this man and feel that she was not having to be on her guard all the time in case she said something to upset him as the case had always been with her husband. The afternoon wore on and the sun had moved lower in the sky and a chill started to come into the air. She told him it was time for her to go home but before they parted ways, he asked if he could meet with her again sometime.

She told him that maybe she would contact him so that they could go for a walk sometime. She had not told him anything about her marriage or husband and he had not disclosed anything about his life. He gave her a card with his mobile number but there was no other information except his name. She did not have a card but she wrote her address and phone onto a scrap of paper and thought that he would probably discard it anyway. She had taken an instant liking to him and she could even admit that she felt a twinge of attraction towards him. She was surprised as she thought these types of feelings were well and truly buried in her past.

A few weeks went by and she found herself thinking of him frequently. “I wonder if I should contact him,” she thought, although she admitted to herself that this would probably not happen as she was no longer the confident woman of the past. One afternoon the doorbell rang and she was surprised and delighted to be handed a colourful bouquet of flowers and an envelope by a delivery man. When she opened the envelope, there was no name so she wondered who sent the flowers, but thinking about it, she decided that they must be from Luc as she did not know any men really, just a few passing acquaintances and some of the men at her workplace who were all married or in relationships. However, at the bottom of the envelope was a key and a small note. She smiled to herself thinking that this was from Luc and it was his inventive way of seeing her again. She quickly sent a text to the number on the card that he had given her, which she had stuck on her fridge door. Her message simply said, “ I will see you at Apartment 234, 57 Brooklands Rd. as you requested and thank you for the beautiful flowers!” She thought to herself that it was time that she seized life and took a risk.

Now she was here confronted by this devil.

He instructed her to sit down on a chair opposite, then he rose and slowly walked across to stand next to her. His large frame and his unsmiling face frightened her and she was frozen to the chair. He was still a very handsome man with his thick, dark hair and penetrating almost black eyes. His striking features that had mesmerized her when they met, now repulsed her. He passed his fingers over her cheek and caressed her hair. She cringed from his touch and then a fear from the past raised its ugly head as he grasped her arm and pulled her to a standing position. “You are my wife and you always will be! You accepted my invitation to come here so now the time has come for you to start behaving like my wife so come with me.” He led her towards the bedroom and her heart was pounding. She felt sick and her mind was trying to plot a way to escape. The thought of being with him made her feel physically ill. He walked her forcibly to the bedroom door and then his phone rang. He ignored it for quite a few rings and then hesitating, he answered it. He was speaking quite seriously and quietly on the phone and he walked slowly over to the window, looking out as he spoke.

Her adrenal suddenly kicked in and she saw an opportunity. She dashed towards the door and fumbled with the lock until it released. He ran towards the door, dropping his phone as he tried to prevent her escape. She slammed the door in his face and ran faster than she had ever run in her life. She flung her heeled shoes off and sprinted along the corridor towards the staircase. He was gaining on her and she began to call for help in a sobbing, frantic voice. People began to come out of apartments into the corridor, watching the performance and then realizing that this was a serious situation, someone called the emergency number.

She made it to the staircase and began taking the steps two at a time in her desperate attempt to flee from her tormenter. Halfway down the first flight of stairs, he caught up with her and grabbed her, grappling roughly with her as she struggled. Suddenly, she crashed violently onto the stairs, the hard granite causing excruciating pain in her back. He began to drag her towards the top of the stairs. She screamed and a small crowd had gathered at the top of the stairs, not sure if they should try to help or wait for emergency services to arrive.

Suddenly, a strong set of arms grasped her husband and hauled him away from her, throwing him to the ground, just as some uniformed officers arrived on the scene and tackled him, restraining him with handcuffs. Her husband was protesting loudly and he seemed half crazed screaming to the police that this was his wife and he just wanted to take her home.

He was quickly marched out to a waiting police car and an ambulance was called for Sarah as her injury was preventing her from standing. She had begun to sob, her whole body shaking from the relief of being rescued and the memories of the mental torture her husband had inflicted on her during their marriage. She had been terrified that once again she was going to be kept as a slave to his demands and isolated from the world.

Waiting for the ambulance to arrive, a man came to where she was lying on the stairs and put his jacket under her head as support. He inquired about her pain and told her that she was safe now. She looked up as he leaned over her, his concerned eyes looking into her face. A spark of recognition registered in her mind and she quietly murmured to him. “Are you Luc?” “Yes, I am. I remember our meeting in the park. It was a very memorable afternoon!”

"What are you doing here?"

I am actually a detective at the police department and when I received your text letting me know that you were going to the address on the note that you presumed was from me, I got concerned as I had not sent it to you. I thought I would go over and check everything was O.K and that you were not in a situation that you could not manage. As I was leaving to go there, a call came in from one of the residents in this apartment complex, reporting that a female was being attacked. I made record time getting here as I sensed it was you that was in trouble.

"Anyway, you will have to tell me the story as I will be interviewing you for a report when you are released from the hospital. I sense that there is a lot to tell." Her husband, she discovered, had recovered from the coma and when he was eventually well enough to be released, had set out to track her down. It was not that difficult as she still lived in the same town. She did not move away as she was convinced that he would not recover and therefore she thought that she was safe.

He was charged and found to have serious mental issues. He was given a sentence but was not put in prison. He was sent to a special facility where he would remain for many years. The doctors told her that the way he controlled her life was due to the mental condition that he was suffering from and it had gradually gotten worse every year.

She was ecstatic the day her divorce was granted and a year later she was enjoying a relationship with Luc who gradually revived her self-confidence. She trusted him and gradually began to fall in love with him.

“You know what is such a bonus in our relationship Luc? It is having my very own detective. My own security guard” she joked.